We’re no strangers to the usual flow of emotions that accompanies new-car ownership, even if the cars we test aren’t ours. Whenever we get a new long-termer at 1585 Eisenhower Place, we feel that familiar sense of acquisitional pride. The car is new, it smells good, it feels taut, and climbing into it every day is as refreshing as a cold Fresca in the Sahara. Then, as the miles pile on, the small idiosyncrasies grow wearying, the bright glow of fresh metal dims, your dime turns into a nickel. We all get jaded, and hell hath no fury like a jaded automotive journalist.

But that didn’t happen with our long-term 2015 Volkswagen GTI. We never tired of it. And that’s because the car is simply right. All the controls are natural 10s: The electrically assisted steering is carefully weighted; the turbocharged 2.0-liter delivers lots of traffic-friendly low-end torque; the seats are comfortable and supportive; and the action of its six-speed manual, with a light clutch and an easy-shifting stick, reminds you how gratifying it is to row your own gears. From day one, this car was the golden child that could do no wrong.

Exhibit A: The very first logbook comment declares the car “perfect,” which is a very un-German descriptor. A perfect German car? This is not possible. Without room to improve, the engineers in Wolfsburg would put themselves out of a job. That said, over seven generations of improvement, VW has made this car as close to perfect as any in the current market. It’ll comfortably transport a family of four across the country, haul two bikes with its 53 cubic feet of max storage, or serve as an amusement-park thrill ride for one.

The best part is that the ’15 GTI delivers this versatility starting at $26,205, which is why most editors on staff would buy a GTI as their daily driver were they spending their own cash. The base GTI comes equipped with satellite radio and heated seats. We chose a white exterior because of how the GTI’s black and red exterior trimmings pop against the high-contrast background. VW throws in leather with the pricier SE and Autobahn trims, packages we might have opted for if we didn’t prefer the character of the Clark plaid seats. We did spec the $1495 Performance package. It proffers an additional 10 horsepower via engine programming, for 220 total, and an electronically controlled limited-slip differential. Finally, the $995 Lighting package brings bixenon illumination, a major upgrade and worth the cost.

All in, our GTI cost $28,695, which is about the same as the long-term Mazda 3 we wrote about last month. Taking delivery in February 2015, we immediately installed four Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 winter tires for $788, and in that swap we may have screwed up the prescribed rotation of the summer tires, something we didn’t notice until it was too late. We put the summer tires back on, and after a free-of-charge 10,000-mile service we sent the GTI to C/D’s California office, at which point it was nearly ready for its 20K service. The Los Angeles dealer performed most of the ­recommended duties, including cabin and engine air-filter changes, while sneaking in a $13 “fuel additive” and omitting the tire rotation. By this point, the front rubber was worn; we had a hard time believing the tires were ever rotated at all, because the rears still had 80 percent of their tread.

We ate the cost of two new Bridgestone Potenza S001 summer tires and threw them on the rear axle, putting the best tires in the rear to avoid the risk of uncontrol­lable oversteer. After that, the tires wore evenly. The second half of the test revealed a more representative estimated tire life of about 30,000 miles.

Initial testing returned only so-so acceleration performance, with a zero-to-60-mph time of 6.1 seconds and a quarter-mile pass taking 14.6 seconds at 100 mph. We’ve recorded 5.8 and 14.4, respectively, in other GTIs. More importantly, though, the GTI hung on to the skidpad at 0.93 g and stopped from 70 mph in 156 feet. Those chassis scores are the real reason the car is lust-worthy. Without them, there would be no spunky handling that inspires its drivers to use the car to its potential. We’re mostly mature enough that we won’t drag-race any stanced Honda Civics; we’d much rather have the GTI’s compliant ride and astute handling than a quicker, torque-steering monster.

Despite its legacy as a hot hatch, the GTI is also a pretty efficient car, averaging 29 mpg over its stay with us, which is 12 percent better than our long-term ’14 Ford Focus ST. On longer trips—like those to California, upstate New York, and Asheville, North Carolina—the highway mileage was regularly 35 mpg or better.

As good as the GTI felt at 40,000 miles, it didn’t have a completely trouble-free stay. Some Los Angeleno decided they needed UV protection so badly that they broke the driver’s-side window to avail themselves of our sunglasses. Replacing the window cost $235, but the scattered glass revealed that the high-quality, tightly woven carpet eases cleanup by not trapping rough-edged debris.

The GTI’s small details—such as the carpet, the rattle-damping felt-lined door pockets, and the perfectly shaped flat-bottomed leather steering wheel—bolster its desirability. Some other cheap speed machines, Focus and Fiesta STs for example, concentrate solely on going quicker, sometimes overlooking the gratifying minutiae that slowly become evident over time. You wouldn’t think it, but an interior pull-down handle to avoid touching a dirty hatch is a much-appreciated feature. As is the ability to seek radio stations with a tap of your thumb on the steering-wheel control.

But the one place VW missed is the GTI’s smartphone integration. It lacks a simple USB port. Instead, it has both iPhone-specific and generic USB connectors emerging from a single port in the covered bin ahead of the shifter. Besides being difficult to swap out, the connectors are frustratingly short and have such large bases that any protective case your phone might wear has to be removed to accept a charge. VW seems to have recognized this as well, because starting in 2016, along with a revamped infotainment suite, GTIs ditched the proprietary connectors for a USB port in the same location. Many of us simply relied on Bluetooth audio to broadcast our playlists.

We ran the GTI up to 25,000 miles without so much as a mechanical hiccup. But when the car went to the dealer for its 30K service, we asked the desk to investigate an annoying 70-mph vibration from the front end and a rattle coming from the rear that sounded like an anti-roll-bar bushing going AWOL. The racket turned out to be due to an improperly placed cargo floor, which is movable to one of two heights, allowing for a flat surface with the seats folded. Initially, the dealer said that the winter tires caused the front-end vibration. Once spring rolled around, and with the summer tires reinstalled, the vibration was still there. The dealer replaced the right-front wheel bearing under warranty, successfully vanquishing the shimmy.

A few editors felt the clutch slipping late in the test, particularly in hard first-to-second gearshifts. When it was inspected, neither we nor the dealer could recreate the slippage, so we took no action. We blame the combination of a driver not using the dead pedal and the GTI’s feathery clutch and high bite point. In most cars, resting your foot on the clutch has no effect. In the GTI, just the slightest pedal pressure initiates clutch disengagement.

Final testing returned slightly laggier acceleration than when the car was new, with the 60-mph sprint and quarter-mile time growing by 0.1 and 0.2 second, respectively. But in this car, those times couldn’t matter less; the GTI could be a 7.0-second-to-60-mph machine and we would still reserve a permanent driveway space for it. You might consider doing so, too. We promise that you won’t grow tired of it.

Rants and Raves

“If you spent less than $30,000 on a fun car and didn’t get a GTI, you screwed up.”—Jared Gall

“I realize I am in the minority in the Golf/GTI versus Mazda 3 debate when I say I prefer the Mazda. However, the Golf is an excellent car in every configuration.”—Jeff Sabatini

“I can't come up with any negatives for this 10Best champion, my only wish being that I owned one.”—Zeb Sadiq

“Next to the BMW M2, the GTI feels, and is, slow. But the steering is superior to the M2’s. The GTI’s light clutch and light-effort shifter make it an amazing manual for stop-and-go hell.”—Tony Quiroga

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